Category B Services

Category B Services

A Category B service (formerly Category 2) is a Canadian specialty television channel which, as defined by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, may be carried, optionally, by all digital cable television and direct broadcast satellite providers.

Unlike Category A services, Category B services are not protected as to format. They are licensed to broadcast within defined formats which are not provided by or overly close to an existing protected channel, but their formats are not protected themselves and need not protect other Category B services. Also unlike Category A services, a Category B service does not have guaranteed cable carriage rights, but must directly negotiate carriage with cable distributors. Category B services encompass both pay television and specialtychannels.

In a policy decision released on October 30, 2008, the CRTC decided that all Category 2 services would be renamed Category B services, effective September 1, 2011.

Henceforth, most Canadian specialty channels (except for national news & mainstream sports channels, which are classified as Category C services) will be licensed as Category B services.

The following is a list of currently launched Category B services in Canada:

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